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Background The SARS-Cov-2 Omicron variant demonstrates rapid spread but with reduced disease severity. Studies evaluating the lung imaging findings of Omicron infection versus non-Omicron variants remain lacking. Purpose To compare Omicron and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2 by their chest CT radiological pattern, biochemical parameters, clinical severity and hospital outcomes after adjusting for vaccination status. Materials and Methods Retrospective study of hospitalized adult patients rt-PCR positive for SARS-CoV-2 with CT pulmonary angiography performed within 7 days of admission between December 1, 2021 and January 14, 2022. Blinded radiological analysis with multiple readers including RSNA CT classification, chest CT severity score (CT-SS, range 0 least severe to 25 most severe) and CT imaging features including bronchial wall thickening. Results 106 patients (Delta n=66, Omicron n=40) were evaluated (mean age, 58 years ± 18, 58 men). In the Omicron group, 37% (15/40) of CT pulmonary angiograms were categorized as normal compared with 15% (10/66) in the Delta group (p=.016). Using a generalized linear model to control for confounding variables, including vaccination status, Omicron variant infection was associated with a CT-SS that was lower by 7.2 points compared to infection with Delta variant (β=-7.2, 95%CI: -9.9, -4.5; p

Permanently implanted devices that deliver electrical stimulation are increasingly used to treat patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Primary care physicians, neurologists, and epilepsy clinicians may encounter patients with a variety of implanted neuromodulation devices in the course of clinical care. Due to the rapidly changing landscape of available epilepsy-related neurostimulators, there may be uncertainty related to how these devices should be handled during imaging procedures and perioperative care. We review the safety and management of epilepsy-related implanted neurostimulators that may be encountered during imaging and surgery. We provide a summary of approved device labeling and recommendations for the practical management of these devices to help guide clinicians as they care for patients treated with bioelectronic medicine.

The Dead Sea is a hypersaline terminal lake whose level has been declining due to anthropogenic stresses since the 1960s. At its eastern shore, near Ghor-Al-Haditha in Jordan, over 1200 collapse sinkholes have been mapped roughly parallel to the shoreline from the 1980s until 2017. This mapping also documented five larger karstic depressions (uvalas), that formed in close spatial-temporal association with the sinkholes, and demonstrated that sinkhole and uvala formation during this period has migrated laterally, both in the direction of shoreline retreat (from east to west) and parallel with the shoreline from south to north.Here, we use new, high-resolution optical satellite imagery from the Pleiades and PNEO satellites, to show that over 500 new sinkholes have formed between 2018-2022. Furthermore, three new uvalas have developed to the north in accordance with the appearance of the sinkholes. Our study indicates quantitatively that the coalescence of sinkholes to form larger compound sinkholes is a subsequent stage of uvala development. New mapping confirms a previously established link between sinkhole size distribution and the mechanical properties of the sedimentary materials in which they form, with holes formed in salt-dominated morphologies being smaller in diameter than those in alluvium and lacustrine mudflats. Initial comparison to local meteorological records has shown that a temporal link between periods of high rainfall and enhanced sinkhole formation is not readily apparent at the resolution of the sinkhole mapping. Moreover, as previous studies had hypothesized, growth of the sinkhole population and the uvalas continues towards the north and is diminished to the south. Our results help to inform hazard monitoring and mitigation strategies at Ghor Al-Haditha: for example, presently growing areas of surface depressions are within 130 meters of a 700-meter-long stretch of the western main highway connecting the north and south of Jordan. Therefore, we suggest that infrastructure such as the highway continue to be monitored in light of the observed subsidence.

In early 2020, a group of geoscientists and other experts came together, within the framework of the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geoscience (iCRAG), to learn about the challenges experienced by researchers in iCRAG, and to identify ways to work together to create a more inclusive environment. However, it was swiftly realised that these issues were manifest across the geosciences, and that any meaningful changes would need to be structural and widespread. This led to the formation of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Geoscience (EDIG) project: a volunteer-led, virtual initiative, aiming to make geoscience more inclusive, accessible, and equitable. The EDIG project strives to improve awareness of the impact of prejudice, bias, exclusion, discrimination and other experiences within the larger geoscience community and to create strategies and networks to tackle inequities within geoscience.To help us better understand the challenges faced across the geoscience community, we ran an anonymous survey asking people about their experiences (or lack of) with equality, diversity, and inclusion related topics. The results of the survey helped to structure an online, free conference run over three days in December 2020. This inaugural event aimed to amplify the voices and experiences of underrepresented groups in geoscience in regard to equity, diversity and inclusion, drawing on the knowledge of 17 speakers from geoscience communities around the world.From the conversations at the 2020 event, we decided to expand outwards, opening our committee up to new volunteers and developing new projects to address barriers and challenges holistically. Many of these projects have involved collaborations with other initiatives and groups, including focused workshops (e.g., early career researcher barriers in Ireland) and are leading to new resources to help reach a wider network. In November 2022, we ran our second virtual conference, which sought to shift the conversation beyond increasing awareness toward strategies for action, and along with our original focus on improving awareness included sessions on data (collection, use, challenges) and how we might influence the future of equity, diversity and inclusion in geoscience.Going forward, our focus is to grow our network by building greater international links with other like-minded organisations (we’ve discovered that many people want to be involved, which is great!). We want to create a platform for us all to come together to work towards a more equitable and just geoscientific community. We also aim to raise awareness of the vital contributions of minoritized groups to geoscientific knowledge and the damaging consequences of their marginalisation and oppression in the history of our science. Only by creating a global network of supporters and activists can we hope to improve the diversity and inclusivity of our science. Let’s all come together to listen, learn and move forward together.

There is a growing appreciation for membraneless organelles (MLOs) in regulating cellular stress responses. Here, we demonstrate a role for the nuclear paraspeckle, a highly ordered biomolecular condensate that nucleates on theNeat1lncRNA, in both activating and repressing innate immune gene expression in murine macrophages. In response to a variety of innate agonists, macrophages rapidly upregulate and then downregulate paraspeckles. Paraspeckle maintenance and aggregation requires active transcription and MAPK signaling. Downregulation of paraspeckles, an adaptation seemingly unique to macrophages, is mediated by the nuclear RNA exosome, via degradation ofNeat1. Primary macrophages lackingNeat1(Neat1KO) misregulate many critical inflammatory cytokines, with a failure to upregulate genes likeIl6andCxcl9and to downregulate others (e.g.,Csf3andVegfa), at the transcript and protein levels in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment. We propose that dynamic assembly and disassembly of paraspeckles help macrophages mount an innate immune response by controlling the availability of RNA processing machineries in the nucleus. Collectively, these data argue that stress-responsive biomolecular condensates play a prominent role in modulating immune cell function.

While the signaling cascades and transcription factors that turn on expression of innate immune genes are well-characterized, the role of RNA binding proteins in activating and sustaining the innate immune response is poorly understood. Members of the serine/arginine-rich (SR) family of mRNA processing factors play diverse roles in transcription, pre-mRNA splicing, export, and translation. Transcriptomic analysis of murine macrophage cell lines revealed that one such SR protein, SRSF7, is required for optimal expression of interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) at rest and in response to a variety of innate immune stimuli in a splicing-independent fashion. We demonstrate that SRSF7 is necessary and sufficient to drive expression of interferon regulatory transcription factor 7 (IRF7), an important activator of the type I IFN response in resting and LPS-treated macrophages. By associating with theIrf7promoter, SRSF7 maximizes binding of the STAT1 transcription factor and promotes RNA polymerase II elongation. These studies define an unorthodox role for an SR protein in activating transcription and highlight the importance of RNA binding proteins in shaping the macrophage innate immune response to pathogens.